Martha McSally – Member of the US House of Representatives – Arizona
Speech to the FreeIran2020 Global Summit: Iran Rising Up for Freedom – Resistance Units Key to Victory
I want to say congratulations to the national council of resistance of Iran also to the Iranian American community in Arizona. I am joining you from Arizona.
For more background, I served 26 years in our air force. I was deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan. I was a fire pilot and the first woman in US history to fly in combat and command a fire squadron in combat.
So, I just want to say today we are with you. The freedom loving people of Iran, we are with you and we stand with you. The God created us all with the desire to be free and so grateful for all you do to stand up for the Iranian people and our God given freedom.
Also grateful for your focus on equal participation of women in the political, social, and economic future of Iran.
You all know, and you have been hearing from many amazing speakers today, about the dangerous Iranian regime. In this time for the Iranian people, to be able to have their own voice, and to be able to govern themselves and have fundamental human rights and freedom. They are the largest state sponsor of terror. They have many hundreds of my fellow service men and women’s blood on their hands through their proxy forces in Iraq and killing American service men and women.
You know their nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile and manipulate in the region and the dangerous nature that they are in the world. But also, they are a totalitarian regime. The crackdown that they have on human rights of the Iranian people, imprisonment and the death of so many brave Iranians who have been standing up for their own basic freedoms and rights that everybody deserves.
I stood against the awful deal with Iran. I thought it was weak and it did not address their other malevolent activities and it just gave them cash. We have to continue with their repressive internal actions in their terrorist sponsoring activities in the region and oppression against Iranian people and funding their terrorist activities and proxy wars around region.
We must continue in a unified way with our European partners to support the maximum pressure campaign. I know we have European partners today. We need you to stand with us and with the Iranian people. They need not to be a wedge between us. We need to be unified in the maximum pressure campaign and this pack of sanctions and also to ensure that the arms embargo continues into the future.
There need to be pressure also on Russia and China. I am deeply concerned about the reports about not depriving of China continued engagement with the regime and the mullahs. Trying to somehow go around with the freedom loving people of the world are trying to do to change the behavior of totalitarian regime and provide more opportunities for the Iranian people. So, China and Russia need to stop their activities and work with us to provide more opportunities for the people of Iran.
And I finally just want to say God bless you all. We stand with you. There are many actions in United States Senate, and I am supporting, and many others are supporting in both sides to stand with the brave Iranian people and with 1,500 people who were killed in that last protests likely more, so many more imprisoned. You are putting everything on the line for your God given freedom.
God bless you all. Our prayers are with you and we stand with you that you will be free.
